PS3 slim is (officially) hitting the world next week. Sony is probably excited. But what about game makers?

Square Enix's outspoken CEO Yoichi Wada seems to be excited about the lowered PS3 price too. But not excited enough to raise Square Enix's sales forecasts for the year.

According to a Bloomberg report, Wada, speaking at a press briefing today, said that the price cut would have a big impact on hardware sales. However, software makers won't really begin to see the effects of the price cut until the PS3's hardware sales rise during the year-end sales rush. There won't be such an effect that Square Enix Holdings will have to raise its forecasts for the year ending March 2010.

Final Fantasy XIII is scheduled to arrive in Japan before the end of the fiscal year and is widely expected to spur PlayStation 3 hardware sales.

Outside of the PS3 slim, Wada also addressed Square Enix's expansion into other territories following its strengthened business in North America and Europe through the acquisition of Eidos. It looks like Asia is the next target for the RPG giant. "We'd like to enter [the market] this year or next year," said Wada. He added that due to foreign investment restrictions in Asian markets, Square Enix's expansion would likely take the form of a tie-up with another company.